Two memorable events happened at this game. Pierre Issa was stretchered off but one of those carrying him slipped resulting in him falling off the stretcher. This was featured a few weeks later in the ‘What happens next’ round on ‘A Question of Sport’.

More significantly Issa’s replacement was Lloyd Colin Doyley making his debut for the Hornets. He would make over 400 appearances during the next 15 years under 11 different managers, scoring twice and being sent off only once, which was a case of mistaken identity and was rescinded on appeal.

Pierre Issa was carried off with a shoulder injury only to suffer further discomfort when the stretcher-bearers dropped him.

To say we’re going through a building period at the moment would be something of an understatement. Not just a new team but an entirely new ethos, as GT might put it. During this period, results might not always go the way we want, and the support bites its tongue instinctively. These things take time, after all, and it’s not as if Luca’s been hanging around stuffing up play-off semi-finals for years, is it ? But given that things will take time to gel, given that we’re not yet the all-conquering Vialli Army that many clearly anticipate, why do we feel the need to make life so bloody hard for ourselves?